Captain, oh Captain Translation
by SuesserKaefer234
Summary: The 22 years old Maggie Fox decided to join the Paratroopers. As if to expect it's not always easy for her to be the only female under all this guys and especially not with Captain Sobel. But her platoon-leader later Major Dick Winters always supports her...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys,**

**as my muse is absent at the moment, I decided to translate my story „Captain, oh Captain". Please be kind with me; it's my first fanfiction ever and English is not my mother tongue. **

**I hope you enjoy the story and leave some reviews **

**I do not own Band of Brothers or any of the characters except for Maggie Fox.**

A few weeks after the training at Camp Taccoa had started Easy-Company should get a new member. All the guys were curious how the newbie would be like: Shy, like some of the younger Soldiers or aggressive like some of the guys, who were in the Army just to proof how male and smart they were…

Shortly after the morning-muster Herbert Sobel walked to the Colonels office to pick up the new member of his company. He hoped that it would be a smart and hard soldier like himself, because his company was definitely too weak at this moment. Perhaps this weakness was caused by a certain platoon-leader: Richard Winters. Dick, as the men called him, behaved more like a mother-hen than like a superior officer.

He wanted to create an elite-soldier as example for the rest of the company.

When he came into Sink's office, the newbie stood with his back to the door and talked to the Colonel. However Captain Sobel could see that he had to bury his dreams of an elite-soldier. The guy in front of him was a better dwarf. Herbert estimated that this guy didn't reach the 1,70m, which made him even smaller than Perconte.

Herbert just thought: 'Wonderful, this guy will collapse in full gear', but then he remembered that the Colonel had told him that the new Soldier had completed the basic training, so he should be able to act in full gear.

Colonel Sink interrupted his thoughts as he stated: "Captain, this is Maggie Fox, the new Easy-member."

"Nice to meet you, Sir" repeated the newbie in a soft and melodic voice. Herbert asked himself how parents could be so stupid and cruel to call their son Maggie. When he looked up he saw that Maggie had soft features and full lips. That's when he checked, that Maggie was a female.

'Great she perfectly fits in this company of cowards. And in addition I'm convinced that she'll cause a lot of trouble because she's the only female in the whole Battalion. '

"Sir, could I talk to you in private for a moment?"

"Sure, Captain. But before you start: I know a female in the Infantry is extraordinary. And I share some of the fears you have according to her, especially that she might cause some trouble in the Company. But there are lots of advantages: She'll be good for the Company-climate, because women have always a calming influence. Second she'll be able to comfort the men when they're not able to comfort each other. Then she speaks fluidly French and German and I think I don't have to tell you what an advantage that will be. She'll be able to spy on the foe troops and communicate with the natives so that there'll be no misunderstandings. I hope you'll accept her soon and I expect that you train her as well as the guys so that she'll be a capable Paratrooper."

"Yes, Sir! Fox, you come with me!"

"Yes, Sir! Thank you Colonel."

**So, that's the first chapter. Perhaps I'll continue the translation tonight, but I wanted to post at least the first part. I'd be very grateful for any kind of feedback (especially positive one ;))**


	2. Chapter 2

At the same time Easy-company still stood at attention in front of the Easy-barracks, waiting for the return of Captain Sobel, who left without a new order.

Dick Winters was a little inpatient because they were just wasting time they could have well used for their training. But who was he to question the decisions of his superior officer?

Dick hoped that the new soldier would well integrate into the company because there was enough trouble without a new problem. That was because of the heterogeneity of the group: some were calm and reflected, like Lip; other ones were very extroverted, like George Luz and some were totally arrogant, like his best friend Lew at the first sight. But all men had their advantages and disadvantages and Dick knew that he would fight with the best.

During Dick's reflection about the men, Captain Sobel and the newbie came around the corner. Dick couldn't see much of the soldier because he looked against the sun. All he could figure out at this moment was that the newbie was very small. He estimated that he didn't reach the 1,65m.

"Gentlemen, this is Maggie Fox, our new entrant" barked Sobel.

The guys, who were not as stupid as their CO, immediately figured out that their gain was a young woman.

'Oh my God, a female. She could be pretty ugly and she'd still be an attraction to the men just because she's the only woman in the Company. Even in the whole Battallion. I'll have to keep an eye on her, because who knows what the guys try, especially when Captain Sobel revokes the weekend-passes again… Oh my God, I hope she has her own quarters, otherwise I'll never get to sleep any more …" thought Dick.

Now that Dick had a better view on the young woman, he could see that she was small and petite, but Dick was sure that she was very athletic because otherwise she wouldn't have succeeded in basic-training. When she took her helmet off Dick could see that she had blond reddish hair, blue eyes and some freckles on her nose and under the eyes. He had to admit that she was a really attractive person. Dick estimated her age in the mid-twenties, which made them approximately the same age. He was curious to get to know the reasons why a young and beautiful woman joined the Army, especially the Paratroopers.

"Fox, you have 2 Minutes to take your stuff into barrack number 23 and change into your PT-gear. We're running Currahee. That means you gentlemen have also 2 minutes to get into your PT-gear and return" barked the Captain in his typical lovely manner.

"We have 2 minutes, gentlemen" repeated Dick for the guys. When he remembered that they had a female member now he quickly added "and Lady". It would take some time for Dick to realise that his Company was now mixed-gender.

"Oh my God, you guys have seen the same thing? I'm afraid I'm fantasizing… Such a hot bunny in our Company. I can't believe it. That's the realisation of my wildest dreams, guys" stated "Wild Bill" Guarnere.

"In my opinion she looks like Winters' little sister" said Bull Randleman.

"Bull, please, you don't have to destroy my dreams before I'm able to enjoy them! If I fantasize about Dick Winters tonight, brrr…"

"Oh, poor Bill. But you have to admit that there're a lot of parallels: The reddish hair, the blue eyes, the freckles, the lean figure… Not that I think she's unattractive" winked Bull.

"Hey guys! I don't see any of you in his PT-gear. Hurry up!" grumbled Dick and cursed the pretty newbie. 'If she already distracts the Company, Sobel will eat our asses' thought Dick by himself.


	3. Chapter 3

In the meantime Maggie came out of her barrack. She was glad that she had a quarter of her own. It was a small one, which was normally intended for the superior officers. Maggie knew that she'll have to live very closely with the men very soon, but she appreciated that she had first some time to get to know the men before she'll have to live with them in small places and trough compromising situations.

She didn't like Captain Sobel from the very beginning. She knew she'll have to try to cope with him because he was her CO but she could see it in the way he looked at her, that in his opinion women belonged into the kitchen and to the cradle and not on a MG. But Maggie has never been a typical female: When she was a child she didn't like to play with dolls, she preferred reading and bickering with the boys from the neighbourhood. Although she went to a girls-college, Maggie didn't like typical female talk. In her opinion most of the girls behaved stupid just to appeal to the men. After her graduation at the age of 17, she went to the University of Bonn to study law. She was of course the only woman in her semester. When the Hitler-government became more and more inhuman, Maggie started to protest and tried to inform the public. Because of that she got arrested by the Gestapo for a few days. After that incident Maggie decided to go to her relatives in the USA. Her father was an American, who became acquainted with her mom during his fathers work as a diplomat in the Kaiser Reich. Maggie's mom worked as a nurse and married her father at the age of 18. One year later she gave birth to Maggie's older sister Karen. Six years later she delivered Maggie. Maggie knew that her behaviour worried her mom but she didn't want to reveal her true self. She didn't want to know what her mom would tell her if she knew that Maggie joined the US-Army after her graduation.

Maggie decided to join the army after she got knowledge of her sister's disappearance. She was afraid that Karen got arrested or worse because she had a relationship to a Jew and refused to break up. Because of that she had already trouble with the Gestapo. In addition she was Maggie's sister, so that it was obvious to the regime that Maggie could have "infected her" with her ideas.

But Maggie had to sue the Army to get into it. People always told her that women were too emotional, too weak and that they caused too much trouble. But in New York Maggie found a judge who thought that Maggie had a point and didn't have to take this discrimination. She was sure that her assignment to the Paratroopers was the Army's revenge. And because of that she was willing to take whatever there may come. And she knew that she'll have problems with Captain Sobel.

Meanwhile the boys had joined Maggie. Some of them examined her more or less discretely when Sobel screamed: "We're running Currahee, gentlemen! Three miles up, three miles down. Hi-ho silver!"

'Why did I know that he wouldn't adapt his address? Damn jingo!' thought Maggie when she started to run with the men. 'But at least Lt. Winters seems to be very polite. He considers my existence and he's the only one who didn't examine me like I had two heads…'

Dick who was running behind Maggie couldn't be as polite as he wanted to be. He didn't come around to notice that Maggie was really pretty. She had long and muscular legs, which were either shaved or the hairs were so blond that you couldn't see them. Her legs ended in a firm butt. Maggie's waist was small and her shoulders were relative broad. Dick estimated that Maggie swam a lot because her arms were very muscular too. Dick was right when he had thought that Maggie must be very athletic because her breathing was still calm and her running style was fluid.

To distract himself from the young woman in front of him he increased his speed and encouraged the men – and Maggie – to run faster. Luz pitched their song to motivate the Company. Dick was curious how Maggie would react, so that he let himself fall back. In the beginning she listened carefully and when the song started for a second time Maggie sang too. Dick and his men were impressed and Dick was sure that "his men" would try to integrate Maggie very soon.

Dick was the second to reach the top and started to encourage the men. Meanwhile he witnessed Sobel's first derogative comment towards Maggie: "Hey Fox, it doesn't seem that you have much in common with your animalistic namesake! Are you sure you don't want to go back into the kitchen and behave like any other normal woman? I'm sure I could find a perfect match for you in this Company of cowards before you leave." Dick became furious: First he didn't like it when his men – his comrades - were insulted and second did he feel very protective towards that little Lady. That one surprised him with her response. "Sure, Sir. I'd really appreciate that, because I'm even too stupid to find a man by myself. But while you select the candidates I'd love to continue my exercise." And with that Maggie was on her way downwards. Dick could see in Sobel's face that there would be bad consequences for Maggie.

**I hope you enjoy the story this far and I'd really appreciate any sorts of feedback. You know: Reviews are the writers nutrition ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey my dearest readers,**

**I hope you enjoy the story this far and I'd really freak out if more of you could leave me a small comment (I'm totally satisfied with emoticons ;)), especially because this is my first fanfiction ever and because my last English lesson is 5 years ago...**

**I hope I'll read you soon and now enjoy chapter 4!**

Back at the camp the company had to deal with the first consequence. "Gentlemen, thanks to the impertinence of your comrade Fox, we'll repeat our run. But this time in full gear! I'll see you in 5 minutes" informed Sobel the men with a self-contented smirk. Everybody hurried to the barracks and changed into their ODs. While her return Maggie shot apologetic smiles towards the men.

"Don't worry, Maggie. It's not your fault" tried Lip to encourage Maggie. "It's okay if I call you Maggie, isn't it?"

"Sure. I don't like being called Fox. Thanks to our CO there's already a mouldy aftertaste. But I'm afraid it's my fault. I should have ignored his insult but instead I answered back. I think I'm not fully used to the military subordination" answered Maggie who liked Lip from the first moment.

Lip gave her an encouraging pat on the back that caused Maggie to lose her balance. If Dick hadn't run beside her Maggie would have fallen to the ground.

"Thank you, Sir" mumbled an ashamed Maggie. 'I hope he doesn't think too that I'm too weak for this whole thing…'

"Hey, no problem. Lip's pats can be very hard. Especially when the gear nearly reaches your own weight, mhm" winked Dick. Maggie gave Dick a smile and nearly dropped once again. But Dick was at her side to save her for the second time in the last minute.

Before one of them could say anything, Sobel joined them. "Oh, I see. You'd prefer a superior officer. But I'm afraid that wouldn't match, I think your not smart enough for an officer."

Maggie was really angry but she decided to bite the bullet and ignore his comment. Dick noticed that benevolently.

Back at the camp the boys decided to give Maggie an appropriate welcome and took her to a nearby stream. They wanted to "baptise" her as a Easy member. Dick watched with attention because he wasn't sure if Maggie would understand that procedure. But when she came up again she smiled and took the men's hands to get out of the water. Before Maggie could reach her barrack and change into dry clothes, she heard an ear-battering "FOX".

"For the destruction of Army property you'll have to run the Currahee once again. In your wet gear! Just to make myself clear."

"Yes, Sir." Maggie couldn't stand the name of this mountain any more and this was just her first day.

Dick wanted the men to join Maggie but Sobel insisted: "Oh no, she'll have to cope with that by herself. You'll find an adequate punishments for these men. And all weekend passes are cancelled!"

"Yes, Sir!" Dick obeyed although he didn't like the thought of Maggie running that hill all alone.

When Sobel joined her, he couldn't deny the fact that she was an attractive Person. She was petite but still feminine. He could see her small and firm breast trough her wet ODs and he knew that Maggie was cold, which was no wonder because her clothes were wet and the evenings in Georgia weren't very warm either. Caused by the previous effort and the weight of her wet clothes Maggie started to breathe heavily. Herbert wished that she would pant under him. 'That's why women shouldn't be in the Army. They even distract smart and hard officers like me.'

At the top Herbert decided to show Maggie an alternative to that torture but that would include her sleeping with him. Maggie's answer was a slap in his face and then she ran away. When Herbert reached her, he grabbed her by the wrist and turned her around. Then he gave her a rude kiss. When he heard someone coming he shoved her away and started yelling at her. Dick came around the corner but he had just seen that Sobel stood pretty close to Maggie and then shoved her away. He thought that he could see tears in Maggie's eyes and joined them on their way back into the camp. He worried about Maggie not just because of the tears but because of her heavy breathing. He wouldn't be astounded if the stress of this day and her night run in wet clothes had made her ill. He hoped that she didn't get a flu or worse.

After Sobel had disappeared Dick asked Maggie what Sobel had done to make her that troubled. Maggie told him that she was just tired of running Currahee and the Captain's insults. "Don't worry about me, Sir. But thank you very much for your support. I wish you a good night, Sir." "Goodnight, Maggie." Dick wasn't sure if she had told him the truth because the closeness he had seen earlier irritated him. 'Perhaps it's just a new intimidation method…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Special thanks goes to nette0602! **

**I hope you – and of course the others, too – will enjoy this chapter. It's not very long, but I didn't want to let you wait any longer. **

Because they hadn't seen and heard much of Maggie since her arrival, the breakfast felt like an interrogation to Maggie. The boys wanted to know everything about her. Where did she come from? Why did she join the Army? What did she do before that? What plans had she for the time after the war? Did she have a sweetheart somewhere? Etc…

Maggie, who felt a little feverish, answered all the questions as well as she could. She told the boys about her childhood and youth, her family, her studies at the Harvard Law School and the disappearance of her sister. The boys seemed pretty impressed by her intelligence. Dick, who sat at the nearest table, was very amused because Sobel couldn't have been less right the day before when he stated that Maggie wasn't smart enough for an officer. Dick would make every bet that Maggie was much smarter than their CO, even if he wouldn't tell anybody…

After the morning-muster Easy had to do several exercises at the training ground. Maggie was a little afraid of that because the speed was much higher than during her basic training and she had always been a little clumsy. After she fell twice, she knew the course and got along better. The guys helped her every time they could, which meant when Sobel didn't look. And these moments were rare. Maggie got the impression that he just waited for a failure of her, so that he could punish her. So she tried her best to stay invisible; she always ran in the middle of the group and tried to be as quiet as possible.

After the lunch they had to absolve an orienteering march. That wasn't a big problem because Lt. Winters who led the group had an excellent sense of orientation. Maggie thought that he was a great leader: He was kind and he just pulled rang when necessary.

After their march they stood in front of the Easy-barracks when Lt. Nixon, Winters' best friend, came along. "Hey Dick, I see, you've got the only women in the whole regiment. What a waste with a person like you, which has no flaws and no vices" stated Lew. He spoke quietly but loud enough for the company to hear him. "Shut up, Nix." Dick was angry because his best friend didn't act like a proper officer should. In Dick's opinion a good officer had to act as an example. In addition he felt insulted by Nix' comment: "What a waste with a person like you, which has no flaws and no vices". Just because he didn't drink or smoke and because he wasn't a womanizer didn't mean that he had no eyes for a beautiful woman…

Maggie ignored the Lieutenants' comment. She didn't know if she could like Lt. Nixon because he seemed to be quite arrogant and Maggie didn't like that he embarrassed Lt. Winters in front of the company. Besides she was a little jealous because Lt. Nixon spent so much time with Lt. Winters. Maggie didn't know exactly why, but she had the impression that there was a special connection between her and the Lieutnant and she wanted to get to know him better.

Sobel inspected the company and punished people for vanities. The collective punishment was that they all had to run Currahee. Maggie already couldn't stand to hear the name of that sh… mountain. She felt feverish and weak and doubted that she'd make it to the top and back to the camp. But she didn't want to show weakness in front of her CO, so she started to run along with the men. On her way to the top she had to stop her run and coughed badly. Lt. Winters was immediately by her side. He knew that Maggie was ill, but he could also understand that she wanted to finish the run and not to satisfy Cpt. Sobel. So the two of them continued their way upwards.

Back at the camp, they all stood in a row when Maggie passed out. Lipton, who stood beside Maggie couldn't react because Sobel was yelling at him. Dick picked Maggie up and carried her to the barrack he shared with Lew. He didn't think about bringing her to her own barrack because he was too angry with Sobel to think properly.

In his barrack he laid Maggie down on his bed and called for Doc Roe. The medic diagnosed bronchitis and told Dick how to bring down the fever.

Dick started to undress Maggie when he realised that half of the company stood in his door. So he expulsed the others and continued his task. When she didn't wear anything apart from her underwear, Dick risked a small glimpse at her flat belly and the small but firm breast. He could also see that Maggie had a lot of scars and wondered where they came from.

Lew came in and stared at Maggie. "Wow, Dick. It's always the quite ones... She's part of your company for two days and you already get her into you bed. Did you pull rank, mhm?" asked Lew and winked. "Shut up, Nix. Stop starring at her and go to bed. Maggie passed out because she's ill." "Oh, I'm sorry. I hope she'll be alright in the morning…"

After Lew went to bed, Dick made a calf packing and rubbed Maggie's breast with ageratum. Following he packed her into his blanked and cuddled her from behind, because the Doc told him that it was very important that he kept Maggie warm. He liked the feeling of her warm body against his and the smell of Maggie's hair, so that some moments later he was asleep.

Maggie woke up in the middle of the night and felt much better. But soon she realised that she couldn't move and panicked because she didn't know what was wrong with her. That was when she realised that someone behind her breathed against her ear and that she was embraced by strong and freckled arms. When she turned around she could see Lt. Winters' peaceful face and knew that this was the best thing that could have happened to her after that day. So she snuggled against the hole between Dicks head and shoulder and was immediately asleep again.

The next morning Lew was the first to be awake and caught a glimpse of the cuddling pair. He had to admit that Maggie fit perfectly for Dick, physical as well as in character. He was really sorry that he had to wake the two, but duty was duty and he knew exactly that Dick would be furious if he was too late. When Dick awoke, he nearly pushed Maggie out of his bed. When Lew told them, that they had just half an hour before they had to be at the muster, Maggie ran away quickly. She was a little disappointed that the night finished so soon but she hoped that they could repeat this someday.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey you,**

**I'm so sorry that you had to wait for so long, but I was pretty busy… **

**This next chapter is really short, but I wanted to give you at least a small piece of the story. **

**I'll try to update soon. **

**Kindly regards, Julia**

The breakfast felt again like an interrogation to Maggie. The boys wanted to know everything – and really everything – about her and her life. Maggie could understand, that they were curious, but she would haven been glad to be able to ask some questions, too.

"Do you smoke?" asked one of the boys.

"No, my mom's a chain smoker and she told me to take a deep drag when I was 7. As you sure can imagine, I didn't like it."

"But you drink?"

"Sure, it's necessary, isn't it?"

"No, I mean alcohol…"

"Oh, stupid me. Then the answer is again "no". I don't like the taste. And in addition I could use my brain cells pretty well…"

"Oh yeah, our Harvard-girl. I forgot…" said Guarnere.

"Hey guys. Am I the only one who sees several similarities between Mag and another comrade?" asked Malarkey.

"Oh no, Malark. I already told you that she`s a female version of Lt. Winters…" stated Bull.

"Who could have known that our little lady here is flaw- and viceless, too? I thought Lt. Winters was unique..." tried Bill to defend himself.

"Hey, the perfect Misses Winters! I'll do him a favour and propose to Maggie for him. Does anybody have a ring at hand? Lip perhaps?" asked an excited Malarkey.

"Are you crazy, Malark? This is my wedding band. Besides, I think Lt. Winters is perfectly capable to propose to her all by himself." stated Lip.

"Hey, guys. You're starting to behave like a certain Captain. Don't you trust me to have the ability to find a husband on my own? Thanks, but I'm able to do so without your help. And in addition, I didn't join the Army to search for a respectable husband." stated Maggie. She was a little angry with her guys. She knew, they were just kidding but their behaviour showed the general attitude towards women.

"That very well may be. But nonetheless you walked out of his barrack this morning…" provoked Bill.

'Shit. Why the heck does he know this?' "That's right. But I was just there because I passed out last night. And if you were a gentleman, Bill, I might have come out of your barrack this morning!" That tit-for-tat response gained Maggie a lot of laughter and Bill flushed cheeks.

Dick, who sat at the next table with Nix was quite amused. He loved that Maggie was able to defend herself because that fact would make his job much easier. And of course her life with the boys, too. They always tried new people, but when they were positive about somebody they would do everything for this person.

And the thought of Maggie as his wife was somehow appealing…

Lew, who sat next to Dick was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and tried not to burst out into laughter. But when Maggie added: "And you know me guys: The Captain said I'm not smart enough for an officer, so I stay away from the officers. At last I always follow the orders of my superiors, don't I?" it was too late. Lew snorted with laughter; even if he tried to restrain laughter he didn't succeed.

Even Dick had to grin. Lew knew that Dick had a good sense of humour in private. And he was sure that Maggie could entertain his best friend pretty well. Besides he couldn't forget how content Dick seemed this morning when he held Maggie in his arms. He wished his friend could forget his duty for some time and just live. Especially since nobody knew for how long they'll still be alive. He decided to talk to Dick about his opinion. Perhaps he was able to loosen him up a little.

**As you all know: Reviews are soul-food :D **


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the very nice review. I really appreciate your feedback!**

**As a little reward: Chapter 7. **

When he started this topic later at the barrack, Dick got a little upset. "Hey Dick, calm down. It was just an idea of mine. Don't you like her?"

"Of course I like her. She's smart, she's pretty, she's quick on the trigger but nonetheless she's serious enough to know what's in store for us. So yeah, I like her very much."

When he saw the fat grin on Lew's face, he quickly added: "But that doesn't mean that I'll get involved with her. I like you too and as far as I know we don't have a sexual relationship." Dick, who was very satisfied with his sneaky retort, underestimated his friend, because Lew said: "Hey, Dick. If you would have said that you're interested in me…" and wiggled flirtatious with his eyebrows.

"Oh, you crackpot! One day you'll drive me crazy."

"Okay, okay. I'll stay serious. I just think that you could use a little fun too. And I'm sure that Maggie could be a lot of fun. We all don't know if we'll come out alive of this whole war-thing… Besides I'm pretty sure that she likes you a lot. She looked very confident this morning while you cuddled her."

Before Dick could respond, Lew dragged him out of their barrack. Because he didn't watch where he went, he managed Dick straight into Maggie. Dick flushed immediately while Maggie gave him a cute smile and went away.

When they reached their company they saw Malarkey and Guarnere grappling with each other. There was a lot of action because the other guys were betting on the winner. Maggie, who was afraid of Sobel who should appear at any moment, stepped in between them and stopped their brawl. Everybody, including herself, was a little shocked by her courageous behaviour, but in the end they were all grateful because just at this moment Sobel came around the corner. If he would have seen the previous chaos, he certainly would have punished them all viciously.

Maggie, who stood beside Dick in the end, whispered an apology for her earlier behaviour: "Sorry, Sir. I shouldn't have done that. I know, it's your job. But I was a little afraid of Sobel's reaction…" Dick gave her a timid smile; he didn't expect Maggie to apologize, because he was really grateful that she had intervened, because trouble within the company was never good for anybody.

Sobel came to them and told Dick about his commission to company XO. Dick was kind of proud of himself and appreciated the promotion, but Sobel knew how to louse things up for other people. "As my new surrogate you should be able to deal with administrative tasks. As a test and of course as a sign of my trust, you'll take over my duty at the officer's mess. Your service there starts at 4:30. But you're allowed to take Fox with you. I'm pretty sure that she's talented in the kitchen, because she didn't show any talent for military things."

Dick hoped that Maggie would refrain from an adequate reaction because he saw Sobel's calculating glance. He could see that Maggie was angry but she didn't say a word. And when Sobel asked: "Is that clear, Fox?" she just answered "Yes, Sir. Crystal-clear!"

"Easy company lets move for your PT!" he barked and started to jog.

"Sorry, that you're involved in the mess-duty" stated Dick after they had started running.

"No problem, Sir. Captain Sobel just hates me and I'm afraid that I'll have to get used to his harassments… And we really ought to be at the mess at 4:30 in the night?"

"I'm afraid yeah…"

"Hey, Meg. Looks like you'll not get enough of your beauty-sleep, mhm?" said Guarnere from behind them.

"Nope. But I'll be lucky to give all my beauty-stuff to you, now that it's useless with me, Bill. I know that you pay special attention to your appearance."

Suddenly Sobel screamed from behind them: "I didn't grant you the permission to talk during your exercises!" Maggie ducked her head and tried to be invisible but she apparently failed, because Sobel added: "Fox, I'll see you in my office at 20:00 hours!"

"Yes, Sir!"

'I don't know, what I did to deserve a CO like Sobel… Perhaps I should rethink this weeding-thing. Could be much worse than marrying Dick and raise cute redheaded Mini-Dicks… Oh my god, I'm going insane because of Sobel's repulsiveness and Dick's adorableness.'

The rest of the day was uneventful and Maggie found herself in front of Sobel's office at 19:56. Exactly at 20:00 she knocked on the door.

"Fox, finally. I will not tolerate your impertinence any longer! You'll get a punishment and you'll accept it like a man. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir. But I'm nut sure, what it is that I should be punished for…"

"You're in no position to question my decisions. But to illuminate you: You talked during PT without my permission." Maggie thought that Dick and Bill deserved a punishment likewise in that case, but she didn't say a word because she didn't want to involve her comrades.

"Besides, your sheer presence at this camp is reason enough for any kind of punishment." added Sobel. And then he said with a wicked grin: "But I'm no brute. So I'll give you a choice. Easy company will absolve a 10 mile march or you'll spend the night with me."

**Does anybody like to guess how Maggie will react? **


	8. Chapter 8

I'm really touched by all your support! Please believe me that you reviews mean a lot to me and that I'm really grateful for them. Please continue and take some virtual cookies ;)

Guest: Thanks for the comment on the grammar! I was a little afraid that it might be terrible for native speakers…

And as a little reward for your diligent feedback: Chapter 8, the longest chapter so far.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Then he stepped close behind her and whispered in her ear: "And?"

"Sir, as bad as I feel about bringing that march over the company… I'm no prostitute! So, we'll have to absolve that march." Just when she had finished that sentence, her bad conscious started talking to her. 'Perhaps I should spend the night with him… After all, I'm no virgin… But would he be satisfied with just one night? No, he's the type of guy, that'll always ask for more… And I've already got the feeling that I'm cheating on Dick, because I didn't tell him the truth when Sobel asked me the first time to shag with him.'

"Fine. But I warn you: If the whole company isn't in full gear in 10 minutes, you don't want to bear the consequences, Fox!" barked Sobel. He was a little broken because in his opinion he had offered Fox a great deal. After all he was an attractive man and he was a Captain, for Christ's sake. But he would show that little bitch, what it meant to have him as an enemy.

Maggie ran like a bat out of hell. She stopped at the Winters/Nixon-barrack and entered without knocking. What she saw there took her breath: Both Lieutenants wore nothing but a towel around their hips. Maggie had to admit that Lew might be rightly arrogant. His broad chest with the dark hair that ran in a small line down to his well-defined abs and deeper into the towel fascinated Maggie. But that was nothing compared to the view she had on Lt. Winters: Despite his height from round about 70 inches, his shoulders and his breast were broad and well exercised. There was a small amount of coppery hair on his breast which could also be found below his navel. His abs were very well defined and Maggie could literally imagine her fingers running through this ground of muscles.

When she finally came to her senses, she told Dick about the upcoming march. "Sir, Cpt. Sobel ordered a 10-miles-march for tonight. And we have just 7 minutes left to get ready." Maggie was so nervous and full with adrenaline, that she didn't notice that tears were running down her face.

Dick sprang immediately into action. "Okay, Fox. Go to the guy's barracks and tell the NCOs about the march. Then go to yours and change into your gear. I'll be with you in 5 minutes."

'What did she do this time to piss him off? Oh yeah, right, he doesn't need a reason for his bullying…'

"Dick, have you noticed that Maggie was crying?"

"No, Lew. I was too upset to remark that. Do you think Sobel did something to her?"

"We both know that Sobel's a pain in everyone's ass and that Maggie isn't one of his favourites, but perhaps she just cried because she had a bad conscious towards the men… So please don't go out there and shoot our CO. Although that would solve a lot of our problems. But nah, wouldn't be good for your career. .."

When Lew ended, Dick was fully changed into his gear and went to see a certain female comrade. He wasn't sure if Maggie just had cried because of her bad conscious or if there was more behind all this. He remembered the incident from last night and highly doubted that the Captain had behaved properly.

Meanwhile Maggie had told the guys about the bad news and was really astounded that the guys didn't seem to take it by heart.

"What did she do this time to upset Sobel? Couldn't she keep her trap once again?" asked Skip after Maggie went out of the barrack.

"Hey, don't be unfair, Skip. We all know that Sobel doesn't need a reason to be a pain in the ass! Besides, didn't you see that Maggie was crying?" defended Lip his friend. "And I hope the only reason for her crying was her bad conscious…" he added.

"Mhm, I'm still very clumsy with the grenades. I could imagine that I might cause a little accident…" mused Joe Liebgott. Like most of his comrades he had already accepted Maggie as an adequate comrade and felt for her like for his little sister. They were all willing to do anything to protect her, even if that meant a 10-miles-march in full gear by night.

Maggie was shouldering her equipment when Dick came into her barrack. Maggie anticipated a tirade from her platoon leader and pulled her head between her shoulders. Dick had seemed to be pretty angry with her when she told him about the march; he even called her Fox, which was normally reserved for Sobel. But much to her surprise, Dick just wiped the tears on her face away with his thump and gave her a little smile. "Hey, we don't want to give him the satisfaction that he made you cry, do we?" Maggie sniffed once and nodded bravely. With the hand on the small of her back, Dick led her out of her barrack and - to his satisfaction - could see that the whole company was ready. Dick wanted to talk to Maggie in the morning when they had more privacy.

Shortly after they were finished Sobel came around the corner and told them about the route they'd have to absolve. Maggie could see that Sobel was disappointed that they all made it on time. She really didn't want to know what he would have done to them otherwise.

After they had started to march, Guarnere mumbled: "That fucker even involved Currahee into the route…"

After a while Maggie apologized: "Guys, I'm so sorry that I brought this march on you. But please, you have to understand that the alternative punishment wasn't a real alternative…" Maggie's voice softened with every word.

"And you thought: The more people the more fun, or what?" asked Popeye who was in a foul mood because his girlfriend just broke up with him by one of the famous "Dear John"-letters.

"Popeye, please, try to understand me. I would have done nearly anything to exclude you from his punishment, but I just couldn't do it… He wouldn't have been satisfied with one time…"

Dick and Lip, who both walked nearby to Maggie, could see that she was crying again. She didn't make a noise but the vibration of her shoulders and the tear-stained face gave her away. And nearly at the same time the big light went one for the two men. Lip, which was closer to Maggie, went to her and hugged her.

"Darling, nobody wants you to do something like that. We'd all rather walk through the whole country. Did you get that?"

Maggie nodded and slowly the rest of the guys came to the same conclusion as Lip and Dick.

"He didn't really ask for that, did he? That's a doozie, even for a sucker like Sobel. I'm gonna kill this man. How does he dare to try to touch our Maggie" stated a furious Guarnere.

"Mhm, I'm afraid the grenade-accident might be a little too weak, now that we know about this. I think we should at least castrate him before that. Or we could abandon him on the drill ground and make some mortar-exercises…" mused Liebgott.

Dick knew that he should stop the killing thoughts of his men, but couldn't because in his head were the same scenarios. He was furious as never before: How did Sobel dare to try to force his Maggie to sleep with him? She was his inferior soldier, for Christ's sake!

"Guys, I really thought about doing it…"

"Mag, forget it. Nobody here wants you to prostitute yourself to this pervert!" came it from Guarnere.

Maggie was glad that the boys weren't mad with her and felt much better than before. She didn't notice Lip leading her to Dick until he asked the Lieutenant: "Sir, what are we going to do about this?" "Mhm, the only official option is to lodge a complaint with the Colonel. But that seems pretty mild to me. "Hey, Lieutenant, you're not toying with the boy's ideas, are you?" kidded Lip and Dick just made an indifferent sound.

"Guys, I'm really touched, but we'll not do anything" stated Maggie and earned an "Are you mad? out of the mouths of nearly 40 guys. "No boys but try to imagine what would happen if the higher-ups believed me: They might tear us apart and I don't want this. Furthermore I'm not sure if that might not inspire other people. And I really don't want to imagine what would happen to me if they didn't believe me…"

Dick admired Maggie for her sense of comradeship and her far-sightedness.

"Okay, but you have to promise me that you'll come to me if he ever tries to pester you again."

"Promised, Dick." While Dick was happy that Maggie used his nickname, Maggie was shocked by her disrespectful behaviour. "Sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to disrespect you, Lt. Winters!"

"No problem. I like it when you call me Dick, so it's okay if you do so, when we're alone – or with Lew."

When they came back to the camp, Maggie felt great because the Lieutnant had finally took a step towards her. She couldn't point directly at it, but she felt a certain kind of a connection with her superior officer and was determined to explore it further.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you so much for your support, my dearest reviewers! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your feedback. The following chapter is not too long and not too exciting but it's necessary ;) I hope you'll enjoy it. Hugs, Julia.**

When they finally arrived back at the camp, Maggie and Dick had just an hour left to sleep before they had to be at the mess.

"I hope you'll arrive quickly to sleep, because I'm afraid you'll not get much of it tonight…"

"Same to you, Sir. I'll see you in an hour. Goodnight."

Maggie didn't feel like serving in the mess but she appreciated the possibility to spend some time with Lieutnant Winters alone. She wanted to get to know him better and that was impossible as long as the rest of the platoon or even Lt. Nixon were there.

In her barrack Maggie stripped down to her underclothes and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She didn't notice it earlier but due to the lack of sleep and her illness her body needed rest. Therefore she didn't hear her alarm clock when it rang an hour later. She didn't wake up until someone knocked on her door. She stood up and was still drowsy so that she needed a moment to realize that she was too late. What she still didn't realize was the fact that she stood in front of Lt. Winter with nothing on than her underwear.

"Oh, Sir. Shit, I'm so sorry. I'll hurry up!" said Maggie and lurched through her barrack in search for clothing.

Unlike Maggie Dick did notice that Maggie wore nothing but her underwear and turned beet red before he turned around to give her some privacy. But he couldn't help but cast a glance over his female comrade. He had to admit that his first impression of her was right: She was really an attractive person. When this thought came to his mind, Dick's face turned into a deeper red.

"Sir, I'm ready. I'm really sorry! Will we be too late?"

"Not if we hurry up. I was 10 minutes early" said Dick with a wink and started to run towards the mess hall.

They were just in time when they arrived and started their duty.

Maggie didn't see any sense in her presence at the mess. The men and women who worked in the mess prepared the food like every day and she just would have disturbed their routine. Dick was in charge of the inspection. This left nothing to do for her. That's why she polished the glasses and dishes and tried to talk to Dick.

Though her time at the mess hall was pretty annoying concerning her work, it was the best time she had in a while because she got to know more about Dick. He told her that he grew up in different places in Pennsylvania and that his parents still lived in Lancaster where he went to school. He talked a lot about his love for books – the subject didn't really matter – and his favourite sports. Maggie wasn't surprised that Dick had wrestled at college; it explained the source of his physical strength. Because of their shared addiction to books, they had a lot of topics of conversation. Maggie was impressed that Dick had a bachelor in business, though he had to work a lot to bankroll his studies. She had worked as a waitress to finance her studies, too but Dick had had particulate three jobs at the same time.

Dick was pretty amused when he saw her reaction to his former job as a painter of high-tension-towers. Maggie was pale and her face had a greenish shade. He couldn't hold back a laugh when she told him that she was totally afraid of heights.

"May I ask you what you're doing at Taccoa if you're afraid of heights? You know that the planes have to leave the ground so that we can jump out of them?" teased Dick.

"I didn't really have a choice. I think that my assignment to the paratroopers is the Army's payback for my persistence…" After a small break she added: "But I'm glad that I'm here. This company is the closest to a family I had in years. And besides most of the men are nice to look at" and winked.

When Dick noticed that they were flirting he turned beet red and tried to return to a more serious subject.

"And what about your family? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, I have an older sister. She's 6 years older than me. But she disappeared some month ago and my mom doesn't know where she is… I'm afraid she might have been arrested by the Gestapo because of her Jewish boyfriend and the trouble I caused back home…" Maggie introduced and told Dick everything about the political situation in Germany and shared her fears about her sister with him. Dick was impressed by Maggie's courage and her love for other people, especially for her sister. He noticed that Maggie had had a close relationship to her sister and felt very sorry for her. He didn't like to see that desperate expression on the face of that small, weak being in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to embrace her and protect her from whatever there might be in store for them. It wasn't his plan to fall in love during this war but he had to admit that he had at least a little crush on her.

Because an embrace would have been very inappropriately, he just took her hand in his and gave it a short squeeze and a hopefully encouraging smile. She returned his smile and went back to her polishing-work. Maggie was glad that Dick didn't shrink back because of her past and instead tried to comfort her. He was exactly what she needed in her life: An affectionate, smart and reliable man. Maggie knew that they were very rare and was tempted to try to deepen her relationship with him but she knew also that Dick always sticked to the rules. In addition she had to admit that a relationship during war might not have been her smartest idea. A relationship beard always a high potential for conflicts and nobody promised them that a relationship between them would work. So she decided to be content with the comfort he gave her and wait what might develop between them.

During the two weeks of mess duty they grew very close which made it much more difficult for them to ignore the feelings for the other. When they were occupied with their training, they could suppress the growing affection but in the evening their thoughts were with each other.

Lew admired his best friend for his steadfastness. It was totally obvious to everybody – except to Dick – that Maggie was attracted by him too. But it was positive for Maggie that everybody saw her as belonging to Dick because it kept the boys from getting too close to her. Lew was agog with curiosity about the development of this relationship and was glad that he would be in the first row to see it.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys. Thank you all so much for your reviews and you continuous support! **

**I'm sorry that I took my time with that chapter but my job is keeping me very busy… **

**I hope you'll like it and I appreciate every kind of feedback ;)**

Cpt. Sobel still harassed his company but the men and Maggie were determined to defy him. His attempt to abuse Maggie forced them all together just more. They all wanted to be the best paratrooper company and trained as hard as they could. They ran Currahee voluntarily by night and were very attentive during their lessons about weapons, tactics, hand-to-hand combat and everything else that might help to keep them alive.

As to expect, Maggie was an excellent soldier as long as Sobel left her alone. Even the Colonel noticed her great abilities and asked Dick to "keep a close eye on her". Dick could just think 'If he knew…' but promised to look out for her.

Sobel didn't try again to force Maggie into a sexual relationship with him and the men could just make guesses about the reason. Perhaps it was because Maggie was never ever left alone with him because one of the men always found a – very often specious - reason to stick with her. Or it could be because the death-glances his whole company gave him. Even the normally composed Sergeant Lipton and Lieutnant Winters looked at him as if they wanted to kill him.

At the beginning of December they were transferred to Fort Benning. But because they were part of the second Battallion and their commander Col. Sink was ambitious to beat the Japanese marching-record, they had to walk the whole way to Atlanta. The days of marching were hard but the nights were even harder because it was freezing.

But at least they could be proud of themselves because they had beaten the record.

At Fort Benning started the actual jump-training and faster than everyone thought, the day of their jumps out of a C47 had arrived.

Maggie was very nervous and her fear of heights got the best of her. All she could do was hoping that she would get out of the airplane and wouldn't get thrown out of the Airborne because she froze when she should have jumped. She became more optimistic when she noticed that Cpt. Sobel wasn't on her plane and another Captain was their instructor. The boys helped her to get into the plane and she went rigid when the engines started. The guys noticed her nervousness and gave her optimistic smiles.

Dick, who sat beside her, noticed too that Maggie was pretty uncomfortable and took her hand in his. He gave her a smile and squeezed her hand and felt that Maggie became a little more lax. He wanted to comfort her despite the fact that the physical contact increased his own pulse.

Maggie appreciated this gesture and enjoyed the closeness to her Lieutnant. She felt much more courageous now and gave him a small smile. Suddenly the command to stand up and hook up came. Maggie was on the second position, directly behind Dick and started to check his equipment when the command came. She felt that Guarnere behind her gave the equipment on her butt special attention but decided to ignore it because she knew that petting would be a no-no very soon. After the equipment-check Dick went to the exit and Maggie was right behind him. When the green light went on, Dick jumped and Maggie went to the door. When the jumpmaster told her to jump, she jumped out of the plane without thinking. 'At least it'll bring me closer to Dick again' she thought sarcastically and prepared for her landing. She landed relatively soft and elegant, until a gust of wind caught her chute and dragged her irresistibly against Dick. The two of them fell and Maggie came to lie on top of Dick. She tried to stand up but made their situation just worse because they were now both trapped in her chute. When Dick started to chuckle under her, Maggie had to laugh too. Shortly after, they heard Bill, who had landed perfectly, behind them say: "Hey, you finally decided to come close at death's door, hm?"

"Hey, you babbling idiot, it's just the force of nature that conspired against us." replied Maggie although she had to admit that she kind of enjoyed their situation.

"Okay, okay. If you believe it… Should I help you to get out of the chute or should I just throw it over you?"

"Guarnere, be respectful and help us."

"Yes, Sir. But still I don't know what I should do to help you."

Although both thought 'Throw it over', they replied "Help us to get out of the chute."

When Gaurnere had them finally freed, they went back to the runway to absolve the remaining four jumps. Maggie wasn't so frightened anymore because she knew that Dick would be close to her and because her first jump went ok, apart from the landing.

Maggie had to admit that she kind of enjoyed the jumping after she got used to it.

In the evening there was a party for them in the officer's mess because they all got their jump wings. Of course they all wore their class A uniforms. Maggie was grateful that the Army was at least regardful of her gender concerning her uniform. She wore a green pencil-skirt and a green blazer, fitting in with the guys' jackets. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she went to pick up the boys.

"Oh my god, Mag. Naked skin. Do you want me to get a heart attack?!" Guarnere berated her playfully.

"Hey, I'm sure it's okay to wach. Isn't it Mag?" asked Liebgott.

"Sure thing, Lieb. Considering the old rule: Looksies, no feelsies!"

"Does that apply for a certain Lieutnant, too?"

"I don't know what you guys always think about that certain Lieutnant and me. One could think you are obsessed or in love" winked Maggie and hoped that the guys would drop this subject.

"Mag, you don't have to blow smoke. And just in case: If he rejects you, I'm sure one of us could comfort you. I would sacrifice myself, for example." winked Joe.

"That's so cute of you, Joe. But I don't think that your sacrifice will be necessary because I'll not make a move on Di… Lieutnant Winters, so he'll not reject me, so that your sacrifice isn't needed. Apart from that: You heard Cpt. Sobel. I prefer higher ranking officers, so that the next best choice would be Lt. Nixon."

"Why not Col. Sink, Mag?" asked Bill.

"Because I don't like men with greyed hair."

"Yeah, she prefers redheads" laughed Joe and caused Malarkey to grin like an idiot.

"Guys, as much as I enjoy this conversation with you, if we don't start soon, the party will be over before we get there." And finally they went to the mess.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you all for your reviews and your patience! My job's still driving me nuts and I was pretty busy with the preparation of my wedding last weekend, but I hope that I'm now able to update a little more often.**

**I hope you'll all like Chapter 11 and I'm looking forward for your feedback. **

Finally arrived at the mess, Maggie took a short overview and decided to sit down at a table with Liebgott, Guarnere, Lip, Bull, Malarkey and Doc Roe. Before she could say "Currahee", the boys all held a glass of beer in hand and were cheering. Maggie felt a little excluded because she didn't even have a drink to clink glasses with the guys. But Lew saved her with a glass of Coke. "Hey boys! You don't want to exclude our little Misses-Winters-to-be here, just because she's – like demanded by her role – free from any flaws and vices, do you?" Maggie appreciated the drink but at the same moment hated Lew for his commentary and went beet red because she was afraid that Dick might have heard what Lew had said.

"Don't worry, Mag. He went outside with Sobel."

"Thank you, Lip."

When she had clinked glasses with the boys, Maggie couldn't avoid the thought that Lew might know something about Dick's feelings for her she didn't know. Why should Dicks best friend talk about her as Dick's wife-to-be if Dick didn't have at least a little crush on her? But on the other side she was thinking about Lew who loved to bring people up and kid them. She couldn't finish her thoughts because Lip asked her if she liked to dance.

"Oh Lip, I'd love to!" Later she had to admit that she was right: Lip was a great dancer and she enjoyed being near him. She could just be herself and had a great time.

They were interrupted by Col. Sink's arrival. He congratulated them and wished them the best for their future. After he had talked about the Paratroopers being a totally new concept, he asked Maggie for a Dance.

The Colonel was a good dancer but still Maggie felt a little uncomfortable being so close to him.

"Thank you for the dance. What do you think about a dance with your CO?"

Before Maggie could say a word, Sobel stood beside her and said: "A great idea, Colonel. Miss Fox, may I have the pleasure of the next dance?"

Maggie wanted to tell him to go to hell, but she knew that she couldn't do that in front of the Colonel. So she forced a smile on her face and nodded. Later she had to admit that dancing with Sobel wasn't that bad. Apparently he had had a good education. Nonetheless Maggie felt uncomfortable being so close to him.

The next person to dance with Maggie was her platoon-leader. When she stood in front of Dick he gave her a small smile. Before they had the chance to start dancing, the music changed into a very slow composition. Maggie cursed whoever was responsible for the music change because she didn't know what to do. When she looked around she saw a silly smile on Lew's face and knew that he was the cause of their dilemma.

When Dick realised that they still stood in front of each other thunderstruck, he took Maggie's hand and waist and pulled her closer to him. He started to sway them and Maggie grew more courageous and stepped closer to Dick until she could lay her head against his shoulder. She decided to enjoy this dance and not to think about the others. She realised that she had been very successful in ignoring the others, because she didn't notice them until she heard Guarnere chant: "Kiss, kiss, kiss!" She looked up into Dick's face and noticed that he had turned beet red as well.

"Oh, I'm feeling a little dizzy. I'm afraid I have to sit down…" Dick escorted her to her seat and Lip came up with a glass of water. He knew that the situation was pretty awkward for Dick and Maggie and he wanted to do anything necessary to make Maggie's story about circulatory troubles believable.

"Come on, Mag. We get you some fresh air." and with that Lip pulled her out of her seat and went outside with her.

"Thanks, Lip. I don't know what I'd do without you! Oh my good, that was so embarrassing! I don't want to know what Col. Sink thinks about us now! Did you see that wicked smirk? I don't know if I should cry or laugh…"

"Presumably he thinks about you as two people who love each other and suppress their feelings because of their sense of duty."

"Since when are you so poetical, Lip?"

"Oh, I'm a real artist by heart. When the war's over, I'll write a piece about your love story and it'll be a great success on Broadway. Care to take the role of the female protagonist?"

"You're a good one! But it's very kind of you to keep me in mind, nonetheless I'm afraid, I have to say no. My singing is horrible…"

"I can't believe it. Anything you can't do? I have to tell the others!"

"Very funny, Clifford Carwood Lipton!"

Lip pouted because of the use of his full name and Maggie went soft. She hugged him and together they went to the mess.

By then Dick had finally realised who was responsible for their misery and took Lew by his tie and dragged him outside.

"Lew, are you crazy?! What were you thinking to put Maggie and me into such a position?! I don't want to know what the men and especially the Colonel are thinking about us now…"

"Haven't you seen the smirk on the Colonels face?" asked Lew and couldn't mask his own smirk. He still thought that the change of music was a great idea because it forced Dick and Maggie to show their true colours regarding their feelings. And now Lew knew for sure that Mag and Dick were on the same side.

"Perhaps he smirked because he was curious about how we're going to get out of this situation. I'm glad that Maggie had an idea."

"Yes, not very unusual, but thanks to Lip relatively believable."

"I don't want to know what the Colonel thinks about us now. We must have looked ridiculous."

"No, you looked more like two people who love each other but permit their feelings because of their sense of duty."

"Grmpf."

"And the next time I see him, I'll kill Guarnere!"

"Oh, come on, Dick. You don't try to seriously tell me that you didn't want to kiss Mag."

"Yes… No… I'm her superior officer and I'm responsible for her. So firstly it's forbidden and secondly what should we do if it doesn't work out? Shall we sit in a foxhole somewhere in the Japan or in Germany and yell at each other while our comrades are getting killed? No, thank you."

"That was an excellent answer as Lt. Winters, but what do you think as Dick?"

"I'd love to kiss her senseless. But I'm sure she doesn't want that anyway."

"Oh, my god, Dick. Even you can't be so blind! Maggie returns your affections. The problem is just that she's as compliant as you are. But I guess apart from you the whole Company has already figured it out that you're sweet on each other. Perhaps even the whole 101st."

"Lew!"

"Are you trying to denial that you're sweet on her?"

"No. She's the first woman I've ever met that gave me the feeling that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But she's no option at this point of the war and I've already explained to you why we can't be a couple, even if Maggie returns my feelings."

"Yeah and you might be right. But you're my best friend and I don't want you to be in a blue funk."

"Better in a blue funk than actually dead, hm? Let's go back inside. I'm having this discussion with myself for months and I'm not smarter by now" said Dick a little resignation in his voice.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey,**

**I'm sorry that you had to wait for such a long time again, but I just didn't find the time to write. I wrote this chapter a little hurriedly, but I hope there're not so many mistakes that it's incomprehensible ;) **

**Enjoy the next chapter and remember: Reviews are love ;) **

When they came back into the mess hall, they promptly ran into Maggie and Lip. Dick went beet red and Maggie gave him a short ashamed but affectionate look before she went to the bar. Arrived there, she was caught by Liebgott who asked her to dance with him. Maggie really liked Lieb, apart from his light choleric streak and she had to admit that he was a handsome guy. If she hadn't already been hopelessly in love with Dick, she might have made a move on Lieb. The two of them got along pretty well and had a good time. But after a while, Lieb's hand started to wander down her spine and was much too close to her butt for Maggie's taste. But because Lieb was pretty drunk, she just grabbed his hand and put it back upwards.

"It seems as if Liebgott wants to join Guarnere with his latrine duty…" stated Dick who watched Maggie and Liebgott.

"Hell, Dick, you're jealous!"

"No, I'm not." said Dick although he was pretty aware of his jealousy and knew that he sounded like small child.

"No, of course not" muttered Lew and then added: "I'll go and ask the little Lady for a dance."

"Lew, you're my best friend…" started Dick but Lew interrupted him. "Yepp. And best friend share everything, don't they?!"

Maggie and Lew started to dance and enjoyed each other's company. But they didn't say a word about Dick or the incident earlier this evening. Lew wasn't sure if he could talk about this with Maggie. First, he didn't know her too well, because he worked at the Battalion and second he didn't want to reveal Dick's feelings.

On the other side of the mess-hall, Lip had joined Dick and didn't avoid the "Maggie-subject".

"Sir, try not to look so desperate. It's due to your decision that Maggie and you aren't together…"

"Lip…"

"Sorry, Sir. I mean no disrespect but it's pretty obvious that Maggie and you have feelings for each other. And you don't have to justify your decision; that's not my business. And apart from that, I already know the whole pro-and-con-list from Maggie. What do you think about going to her and asking her for a dance? I'm sure she'll love to dance with you with less audience. This way you could be close to each other and talk unhurriedly."

"Yeah, you're right Lip. Thanks for your advance." With that Dick went away and asked Maggie to dance, who naturally accepted happily.

They were both too shy at the beginning to start a more private conversation, but after a few minutes they had a good time. Maggie was glad that she could be near to Dick without having to justify it. He was just so smart and kind and apart from that a really good dancer. Not the sophisticated type of a good dancer, like Lew, but a naturally good dancer. When they had danced first Maggie was so exited and later too embarrassed to notice Dick's dancing abilities. Besides he was a total gentleman, whose hands always stayed where they belonged. 'Great, the only man I wouldn't care about wandering hands…' thought Maggie but was content with what they had at the moment. An hour later, the Colonel called it a night and Dick escorted Maggie to her barrack. They talked for a few moments and separated after a short hug and a small peck on the cheeks.

The next day, they went to New York by train. Nobody – apart from Lew – knew, if they'd have to go to the Pacific or if they'd take part in the European theatre.

Maggie sat together with Dick, Lew and Harry Welsh. Because she hadn't got much sleep last night, Maggie fell asleep. As she fell into a deep sleep, her head bent to the side until it came to rest on Dick's shoulder. Dick was startled for a short moment, but quickly caught himself and admired how cute Maggie was.

Apparently Maggie wasn't comfortable enough, because she moved closer to Dick and slung an arm around his waist. Lew and Harry were already smirking like crazy but when Maggie started to make "little comfort-noises" as Harry called them, they screamed with laughter. Dick decided to ignore his comrades and enjoy Maggie's closeness.

When they came closer to their goal, Sobel announced their arrival in his lovely and charming manner, so that Maggie nearly fell from her seat. She was pretty embarrassed when she noticed who she had used as a pillow.

"Oh, sorry, Dick… I hope, I didn't drool on your shoulder…"

"Oh, yes, you dribbled like hell" said Lew and Maggie went beet red and felt like crying. She couldn't really have drooled on Dick's shoulder, could she?!

"No, you didn't; no need to worry. And even if, it's only Army property." Dick winked at her and she was relieved. When she saw Lew's facial expression caused by Dick's statement, she got the giggles. She couldn't stop laughing until tears were rolling down her face. Dick thought that she had never looked more beautiful.

Dick got Maggie's rucksack from the luggage rack and helped her to put it on. Maggie gave him an appreciative smile and Lew quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

"What, do you need help, too, Lew?"

"Oh, you're such a gentleman, Dick. But no, thank you very much. You should better pay attention to our little Lady or she might get lost."

Dick grabbed Maggie, who was pushed by all the men by the hand and pulled her to his chest.

"Hey you don't want to run away from us, little Lady, do you?

"No. But I couldn't do much about this mass…"

Luz gave his best Sobel parody and said from behind:

"That's why weak women shouldn't be part of the Army!" and gained lots of laughter from the men standing close enough to hear what was going on.

"Mag, listen to me. As long as I don't tell you anything else, you'll stick with me like chewing gum under a shoe sole, okay?"

"Yes, Sir" replied Maggie without thinking about it.

"Good girl" said Lew and tapped her head.

"Sir, permission to speak?"

Because Dick didn't know what Maggie wanted, he played along:

"Permission granted"

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't stay too close to you, because there's always Captain Nixon and we get along as well as cats and dogs.

Lew poked his tongue out at Maggie and Dick had to cough to cover a laugh.

They were again interrupted by Sobel and went to the exit.


	13. Chapter 13

My dearest readers,

I know it's unbelievable, but I'm still alive!

I'm very sorry that you had to wait this long for the next chapter. But unfortunately I'm still very busy, so that the next chapter is ridiculously short, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless!

"Say, Dick, does your order mean that we're going to share a cabin?"

Maggie was totally excited by the thought of being so close to Dick but she highly doubted that she'd be permitted to share a cabin with Dick.

"No, I'm afraid we don't. But perhaps we could change our roommates?" supposed Dick and Maggie had the vague feeling that Dick's roommate was their CO.

"It's Sobel, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid that nobody would be so stupid to exchange whomever against Sobel."

"Bad luck" winked Dick and took her to the huge troop-ship. Maggie was impressed by the number of soldiers that were boarding the ship. She doubted that she'd be able to find anybody from her Company if they didn't stay close together.

Maggie's privilege of a little privacy seemed to come to an end now because she was bunked together with all the enlisted men from Easy. It was a good opportunity to get used to being so close to the men. Maggie knew in combat, they'd share the most intimate and compromising situations and appreciated the opportunity to get used to them step by step. She guessed it was also better for the boys to get used to her presence while they weren't in combat so they could become calmly accustomed with her habits and female peculiarities.

When she sat on her bed, she heard a great rumour from the floor and went down to look what was going on. She saw Liebgott and Bill eying each other like dogs shortly before they start fighting. Before she realised what she was doing, she stepped in between them and tried to prevent a fight. Unfortunately, the fight had already started and Maggie was hit in the face. Her cheek burned like hell and her vision was blurry. She didn't even know who had hit her and lost her consciousness. When she regained consciousness, Dick was leant over her and watched her face. He looked very concerned and Maggie was grateful that he was so protective about her. Later the boys told her how he had given Bill and Lieb hell for hurting her and she was kind of embarrassed because she didn't want the guys to be angry with her.

Because Dick had to leave to join a meeting with Sink and Sobel, he ordered Lip to keep an eye on Maggie who had a severe headache. Doc Roe had given her an aspirin and some ice for her face but she had still the feeling that she had nasty little men stomping around in her skull… Lip was very conscientious with his task and took Maggie to her bed and cuddled her until she fell asleep. When she awoke, she could just look trough one eye because the other one was pompous.

When they arrived in Aldbourne Maggie looked like a human being again and could see through both of her eyes. She was billeted at a nice and shockingly young widow's house. Maggie would have liked to talk to her more, but she was just there to sleep because they had one exercise after the other.

After Sobel had fucked up one drill and cut down a fence just because he wasn't able to read a map, he was so angry that he tried to wreak his anger on Dick. He accused him to have made a fault with his latrine duty but Dick didn't know about a new order. But Sobel punished him nonetheless and Dick required trial by court martial. Maggie was absolutely shocked when she heard about this but she was even more shocked about the mutinity plans of the non-coms Lip had told her about. She admired the boys for their courage; they risked their careers because they were fonder of Dick than Sobel.

After that incident, Sobel got transferred to Chilton Folliat and Easy got a new CO – Lt. Meehan. He was a very good leader and got along with the Easy members really quick. This way, Col. Sink could see that the problem before weren't the boys but Sobel - and just him. Maggie was glad that she didn't have to watch her back continuously. With Meehan she even enjoyed the drills. Besides she could feel that Dick was relieved that they wouldn't go into combat with that chickenshit called Sobel. Not that Dick would ever call him that…

Some weeks later Easy got instructed about the Operation Overlord in Uppottery. Maggie was rather uncomfortable in their tent because her "roommates" were pigs; apart from Lip of course. In addition, she never liked camping and started to doubt that she was a hood soldier. But now it was too late and Maggie was sure that she wouldn't mind such trivialities once they were in combat.

Everybody learned the sand tables and maps and all the stuff that should help them to survive and hoped the best.

At the afternoon of the jump, Maggie was pretty nervous. All the fuzz around her didn't do her any good and she grew even more nervous because she didn't have her fear of heights under control. And then the hole thing got postponed for the next day.

When she sat in the movie-tent, Maggie couldn't relax and chewed her nails. She was so worried about her friends' and about her own life. She feared that she'd never ever get to see her family, especially her sister, again. And she was so worried about Dick, she didn't know, what to do with them. When she felt another warm body next to hers, she knew instantly that it was Dick. He took her hand into his and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. When he noticed, that she didn't stop shaking, he took her by the hand and led her out of the movie. They went to the tent Lew and Dick shared and cuddled on Dick's cot which wasn't made for to grown people, but they got along. Maggie enjoyed having Dick so close and started to relax against his body. After round about half an hour she fell asleep and Dick finally allowed himself to get some sleep too. It was a nice felling to have Maggie close to him and to feel her breath against his neck. He prayed they'd be able to get to know each other better and perhaps spent more nights together.

Reviews are love


	14. Chapter 14

Hey my beloved ones ;)

I hope, you're still following this story?!

I'm glad to present you the next chapter (nearly in time) and hope that you'll like it. I'd be very grateful for any kind of feedback, so that I know that there're still people out there who like to see this story finished.

They both awoke early in the morning and Maggie tip-toed to her tent. It wouldn't have done any good, if someone found her in Dick's. Before she went, she said "Thank you so much, Dick. I don't know, if I'd have survived this night without you. Maybe Sobel was right the whole time and I'm really too weak for this. I mean, you stayed so calm and focused and I was a wrack. What if such a thing happens in action?"

"Maggie, please, don't doubt your abilities and your training. You're the toughest young woman I know and I'm sure that you'll excel in combat. You won't freeze up because that would put the boys in danger and I know that you love every single one of them too much to let anything happen to them."

"Thanks, Dick." Maggie was stunned by the confidence Dick showed in her character and abilities. She was now sure that she wouldn't freeze in combat because she didn't want to disappoint Dick. Sure, she had a fat crush on him, but she admired him even more as a soldier and leader and trusted his opinion. If he thought she could make it, she would get the job done.

When she went into the general direction of her tent, she saw Guarnere sitting on a stone. He looked like shit and Maggie immediately knew that something was terribly wrong.

The day before, Maggie had been so deep in her own worries that she hadn't noticed that Bill had received bad news. When Bill told her that his brother was killed in action near Monte Cassino, Maggie was really shocked. Even before they went into combat themselves, they were faced with causalities. She felt so sorry for Bill and didn't really know what to say. "Bill… I'm so sorry. I… How…" "Johnny received a letter from his wife who checks the causalities-lists. Don't be sorry for me. Be sorry for my mum. He was always her favourite who did never anything wrong. Unlike me…"

"Bill, please. I'm convinced that your mom loves you boys all the same. And some people even like the hard cases more than the light ones. Take me for example. You're one of my favourites. And you know that I have a big repertory of handsome men, mh?"

Bill smirked and let himself being hugged. He enjoyed the feeling and noticed just at that moment that he needed somebody close now. He would function again in a few moments but now it was great to let himself being held and think about his brother. He enjoyed Maggie's warmth and was grateful that she was there. He couldn't have been this way with one of the guys because that wasn't one of the things you did in front of them. It was a good idea of Sink to let Maggie join them. Certainly he wouldn't be the last one searching out for the sort of comfort just a woman could give.

Dick came around the corner and saw Guarnere cuddled against Maggie. He couldn't deny that he was a little jealous at this moment but on the other hand, he was very proud of Maggie. She felt when something was wrong and immediately knew what to do. And this ability would help her a lot in combat.

At the evening they sat again on the roll-field and got ready. They checked their gear again and again. Maggie was very grateful that she didn't have to carry one of those terrible leg-bags; she could barely stand with all the equipment stripped onto her back…

They were all very quite and concentrated. Maggie prayed for her family and for the boys. She said a special prayer for Dick and was then ready to board the plane.

Dick gave them all a lift up and when he helped Maggie up, he held her hand a little longer than necessary and looked her deep into the eyes. At this moment they both knew that they shared more than affection and a little crush.

Dick shoved her into the plain and climbed in himself. Maggie gave him a helping hand and took her seat in the row next to Dick because she was the second to jump. The last one to jump would be Bull, the pusher. He made sure that nobody refused to jump at the last moment. But Maggie felt confident now and knew that she wouldn't freeze despite her fear of heights.

Maggie became a little nervous when she saw Dick sitting next to the exit. She had the unreasonable fear that he might fall out of the plane and disappear forever. So she slipped a little closer and took his hand into hers. He gave it a little squeeze but didn't let go. Maggie liked the feeling of having Dick close to her and to know that he was with her. She had never felt this way for another man. Perhaps it was because he was the first one who gave her the feeling of total security…

Maggie had just fallen asleep when the plane started to shake like crazy. She felt bile rise up in her throat but the feeling of sickness faded when Dick rubbed small circles with his thumb on the back of her hand. She gave him a small smile and tried to ignore the ack-ack-fire.

They heard the plane next to them explode and got totally quiet for a moment. Just then they heard the co-pilot yell at the pilot to switch the light on.

"No, were too far away from the drop zone. They…" and the pilot got hit. The co-pilot switched the light on. Now the training fell in and they all hooked up and checked the equipment of their front (wo-) man. When the green light turned on, Dick jumped and Maggie jumped after him.

Everywhere were ricochets of the hit planes and Maggie had to pull on her cord to avoid getting hit. Because of that manoeuvre, she didn't have the time to prepare her landing and landed in a tree.

I know, it's rather short, but better a few than nothing, mhm?


	15. Chapter 15

**Please excuse that it took me so long to post the new chapter, but I was rather busy and then I was on vacation for two weeks**

**A special thanks goes to my kind reviewers! I'm glad to present you the next chapter and I'd be glad to hear your opinion (again ;)).**

**Please excuse any mistakes, but I didn't want to let you wait any longer for this (short) chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

Almost immediately began the shelling but Maggie was lucky because the Krauts didn't seem to be able to locate her properly. She searched for her leg-bag and noticed with terror that it was gone. Without a knife to cut her cord loose she didn't have a chance to come out of her harness because her weight didn't allow her to open the clasps.

She froze immediately when she heard somebody coming close and was very relieved to hear a whispered "flash". She answered with "thunder" and was totally happy to see a shock of red hair under the approaching helmet.

"Dick. I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, apart from loosing nearly my whole equipment… What about you?"

"I'm okay. But I lost my leg-bag and don't have a knife."

The shooting increased and the impacts were much closer to them now because of their whispered conversation.

"Dick, give me your knife and search for cover. I'll be fine by myself."

"I will not leave you alone while the Krauts are trying to kill you!"

"Hey, I will not get killed. I haven't fulfilled my schedule yet. You know the wedding-stuff and so on…" Maggie tried to loosen Dick up with some gallous humour.

After Dick nearly had been shot, he threw his knife up so that Maggie could catch it and finally searched for cover in a nearby field.

Maggie cut her cord and landed with a loud "thump!" that caused the Krauts to fire a new round into her general direction. Maggie noticed that she couldn't put her full weight onto her left foot and guessed that it was bruised. After a short round of soft whispered curses, she crawled into the direction in which she assumed Dick to be.

Arrived at the field, Dick heard somebody else and whispered "flash" and received "shit" for an answer. Dick went to the other trooper and told him that "shit" wasn't the proper reaction to their password.

"Excuse me, Sir, but I lost my whole equipment and I'm a little jumpy at the moment."

"Yeah… What's your name, trooper?"

"Hall, Sir. I'm with Able Company, Sir."

"Able? Oh my god, one of us has definitely missed his drop zone…"

Before Hall could answer, the men heard a loud "thump" nearby. Hall took a pistol that he had found in the field and aimed into Maggie's general direction.

"Hall, don't! That should be one of our comrades!"

"Oh sorry, Sir!"

"Thank God, there you are. Are you okay?"

"Yes, Sir. I think my ankle's a little bruised but besides from that I'm peachy."

"Do you think you can walk?"

"Stop worrying about me Dick, I'm fine." Just when she had finished that sentence, she noticed the presence of another person and turned around.

"Hall, what are you doing here? Where are your comrades?"

"As far as we know, we all missed our drop zone…" answered Dick instead of the still baffled young trooper.

"Oh, great. What do we do now? I'd suggest we search for another cover because the Germans seem to have zeroed in on us."

"Great idea, trooper!" answered Dick Maggie's suggestion with a hint of sarcasm. She gave him a sour face and started walking.

They marched into the direction contrary to the beach and watched carefully for any Germans and comrades.

After the trio had walked for a while, they ran into a small group of paratroopers. Maggie couldn't stop herself from jumping into Bill's and Lip's arms because she was so happy to see them alive and healthy. The boys hugged her just as enthusiastically as Maggie had hugged them but all of them were deflated when they noticed that nobody was properly equipped. With the help of Dick's fly-compass and a Map from one of the 82nd-guys they found their route to the CP, but before they could really start their march, they heard a carriage approaching.

They jumped into the ditch and Dick told them to hold their fire. But because he was still hurt and angry because of his brother's death, ill jumped out of the ditch and opened fire on the approaching Germans. The rest of them went after Bill and – due to the surprise effect - they were successful in killing respectively chasing away the Krauts. Maggie slapped the back of Bill's head before Dick started his lecture about obeying orders. Lip gave him a disapproving glance and started to walk away.

"Bill, I know you're angry, but you nearly got us all killed!"

"Sorry, Mag. I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I'm afraid - no I'm glad - that you don't know what I'm going through at this moment."

"I can hardly imagine how hard it must be for you, but you have to think about your comrades and not just your personal revenge on the Krauts. Bill, I love you like a big brother and I don't want to lose you; especially not because you're acting like some trigger-happy maniac!"

"Understood, honey. And besides, I love you too."


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you very much for your feedback, girls. You're the best!**

Thanks to Dick's good sense of orientation, they made it to the HQ before the night was over. They nearly collapsed over each other because of the exhaustion and the decrease of adrenaline. But when Maggie heard about Ron Speirs being accused of shooting a varying number of POWs, Maggie braced herself up and searched for Ron. Of course Ron was kind of intimidating but Maggie was sure that he wouldn't act so stupidly.

When she had found him, she asked him about the incident and just received a short "Mpf".

"Ron, you didn't do that, did you?"

"Mpf…"

Because Maggie started to doubt her earlier assumptions, she gave him a short lecture about the stupidity of shooting German POWs, just to be sure. Even after she told him that she didn't think he could be so stupid and short-sighted – because if the Krauts ever heard about that incident, they wouldn't have an incentive to treat their own comrades differently – she just received an indifferent noise. Maggie was so angry that she wanted to slap this guy. How could he not care about that? Sure, the Army needed every officer they could get their hands on, but if Sink would hear about that, he'd sure give Ron hell. She made a sour face and stomped into the direction of the HQ-building to blow off steam. She crossed Dick's path and just waved him off what irritated him pretty much because Maggie was always kind, especially to him… When he later heard about the "Speirs-incident", he knew why Maggie was pissed. She had a very distinctive sense of justice and surely wanted to know what really had happened and if he estimated Ron Spears correctly, he wouldn't have let himself just be interrogated by her.

Contrary to their hopes, Easy didn't get much time to rest, because there was a German battery near Brecourt that needed to be destroyed. The battery faced the landing zones at the beach, so it was essential for the whole mission that it got blown up as fast as possible. Because Meehan was still MIA, Dick was in charge of the company. Maggie could see that he was proud of leading these men who meant so much to him but she could also see a hint of fear in his eyes. But the fear seemed to be gone the moment he briefed his men. In addition to the Easy men (and woman) that already had made it to the HQ, Hall and another comrade from A-company joined the mission. Dick showed his tactical abilities and quickly came up with a plan.

Once they'd arrived at Brecourt manor, they jumped into the ditches and the grass and made themselves as small as possible. Dick told Buck, Malarkey and Guarnere to take some men and go to the other side of the battery while he would lead the rest of the men and Maggie on this side. Although he could see that Maggie would have liked to stay with Guarnere who was still upset because of his brother's death, Dick wanted to have Maggie close to himself so he could have an eye on her. Of course he knew that Maggie went through the same training like he and the men, but she was still a woman and he deeply cared for her and didn't want to see her hurt; especially not under his command. He told Lip to climb up a tree and zero in on the Krauts at the first gun before he told Maggie to stay closely behind him. When everybody was in position, he jumped as first one into the trench. He heard Maggie's footfalls closely behind him and could concentrate on the mission at hand. Before he could realise it, they had taken out the first gun. They couldn't blow it up immediately because they didn't have the TNT. Apparently Lip was stuck somewhere on the way to their position. Dick could see that Maggie just had the same thought because sorrow crossed her beautiful face. He gave her - what he hoped was - a reassuring smile when Hall came to them and told them he had TNT. Dick was positively surprised by the young man and told him that he made a great job. Hall looked rather proud and received an appraising smile from Maggie which caused him to look shyly away. After they had destroyed the gun, the Germans seemed to be so confused that they started firing at their own positions. Before they lost their advantage, Dick ushered the others to the next gun. Maggie had to admit that taking the lives of other people wasn't as difficult as she had thought. She hoped that she wasn't generally brutalized but that it was because those people threaded to kill her boys.

Apart from the fact that they were short on ammunition and Popeye's shot butt, everything went well.

Their luck ended shortly before they arrived at the next gun-position. Hall ran forward and was shot. Dick eliminated the remaining Krauts and blasted the gun. Meanwhile, Maggie had checked on Hall and told Dick that he was dead. Dick took some time to grieve about Hall and Maggie took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Dick" Maggie said tearfully and Dick tried to return her favour and gave her hand a short squeeze. After that they searched the position and Dick found some very interesting papers.

Before they had the chance to attack the remaining gun, Ron and some boys from D-company showed up with more ammo. Ron asked if they could take out the last gun and Dick gave him his permission. Maggie couldn't breathe when she saw the boys, Speirs in front of them, leaving the trench and being shot one after another. At least Ron was successful and they could start their way back to HQ. In doing so, they ran into Lip who hugged Maggie tightly and asked her if she was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? I was so worried!"

"Sorry, darling. I had problems leaving my position and then there was this boy who searched for the HQ, Andrew Hill and he was shot before he could make his way…" "Do we have any causality?"

"Yeah, we lost Hall…"

"Shit. How is the Lieutnant?"

"You know him, he feels responsible for it…"

"Yeah…"

Lip grabbed Maggie's hand and pulled her close to his body to give her some comfort.

**Reviews are love ;) **


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello *looks ashamed around the corner***

**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to publish this rather short chapter, but my job is driving me crazy… **

**I have to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews and you continuous support! I hope you'll keep it up **

**Love and cookies to all of you!**

When they had finally reached the HQ again, everybody was exhausted but too excited to go to bed.

Because Dick and Nix were at Col. Sink's office at the HQ, Maggie had decided to join the boys who sat in a truck and tried to cook. Maggie nearly fell from the back of the truck when the smell hit her, but after a few moments she was okay. She sat down between Lip and Guarnere and was immediately embraced by the two of them. Malarkey served his "Malarkey Special" and Maggie tried it but had problems not to spit it out. Whatever he called it, can-food was never a delicacy…

Shortly after their "Dinné" like Bill called it, Dick joined them and asked what died in the truck. Bill replied "Malarkey's ass" and everybody laughed. Maggie was sure that she even saw Dick's lips twitch a little, but she wouldn't swear to it…

Guarnere offered Dick some of the liquor the boys had found and to everybody's surprise Dick accepted. His facial-expression could lead one to conclude that he didn't like it any more than Maggie had liked the dinner.

Dick was on his way to… wherever, when he turned on his heel and addressed Bill:

"Oh, Sergeant?"

"Sir?

"I'm not a quaker"

And with that he went away. Maggie and the boys laughed tears at that.

After they calmed down, the boys tried to convince Maggie to take a drink, too.

"Hey, you heard our new CO, Mag. It's a day of first!" Malarkey tried his luck.

"No boys, thank you very much. But you know me, I don't drink. And you should be happy to have talked one teetotaller into it today…"

"Oh Mag, be a man and take a drink!" Malarkey said and received several raised eyebrows. After a few seconds he realised his mistake and started to laugh until he nearly pissed himself.

After Malarkey could breathe again, Bull stated: "Come on, Maggie. Even the vice- and flawless Lt. Winters took a drink, so I guess one sip wouldn't kill you."

"Oh, Bull, believe me, I have more vices than any of you! And that's definitely enough."

Now that Maggie had realized that Lt. Meehan was probably dead and that that would make Dick their commanding officer, she was a little worried about him. Because of that she decided to go and look if she could find him. She was sure that he might need somebody to tell him that he made a great job and certainly would do so in the future.

After Maggie had jumped off the truck Guarnere asked fake-innocently "What could she have meant?" and the others laughed until tears were running down their faces. Lip had a fat blush on his face but laughed nonetheless. He loved Maggie by heart, but he loved her like a little sister and imagining her in a sexual intercourse wasn't decent in his opinion. Though he had to admit that the thought as such would be quite appealing, if he didn't have a wife…

Maggie heard the laughter from the truck as she went away and she was glad that the boys could still laugh after what they had seen today.

Maggie went through the town and searched for Dick, but was quite unsuccessful. She didn't find him at the CP or at HQs, but she ran into Lew who was in search for Dick too. So the two of them went together and chatted amiably. Maggie had lost her prejudices against Lew because he was "a rich jerk from yale" – his words, not hers – and really got to like him. She could see why so many women were after him: He was definitely handsome, he had a very good sense of humour, he was charming and he had that ease of handling people. If she hadn't fallen head over heels for Dick, she might have a crush on Lew by now.

Her luck, after all Lew had a kid and a wife and Dick was a bachelor. But Maggie sincerely hoped, he wouldn't be for too long...

Finally they found Dick at the roadside outside of the town. He looked deeply lost in thought and unconsciously still tried to open his can of food.

"Oh, you should never get a cat, my friend!"

With that Lew got Dick out of his thoughts and back into real life. He had thanked god that he and the persons he deeply cared for, especially Maggie and Lew, had survived the day and he prayed that he'd live to see life after the war. But the day had shown him how short life could be, so he was very tempted to loose at least a little up. But shortly after that thought came the notion of Guarnere's words from earlier. He was now Easy's CO and that meant a lot of responsibility. So he had abandoned his earlier thought by the time Lew and Maggie reached him.

He shared a few words with Lew while Maggie watched the bombardment. Lew had to go back to HQ to make sure that… Dick didn't really know and with that he realised that he was deeply exhausted. So he sat down on the small wall next to the road. A few seconds later, Maggie sat down next to him.

"Dick, are you okay?"

"Sure…"

"Dick… You don't have to lie to me. I know that you take the loss of Halls to heart. And I'm sure you know that leading Easy means a lot of responsibility and that you take it too seriously."

"Grmpf… I'm afraid Halls'll not be the only man I lose. And I'm afraid that people might die because I made a wrong decision…"

"No, he won't be. But you did what you could to get us all safe through the day. And you did a hell of a job. I bet under Sobel we'd all be killed!"

"Maybe…"

"Dick, I have every confidence in your leading-abilities and you should too. You were the one who got us to where we are now. Without you, I'm sure; none of us would have made his jump-wings! You were the one preparing us for combat, not Sobel and definitely not Meehan."

"Thank you, Maggie. I'm glad that you have confidence in me."

"Sure I do. Remember, I'm the "chosen one". And if your wife-to-be doesn't trust in you, who should?!"

Dick was touched by Maggie's declaration and couldn't help but smile.

They sat together in silence for some time and after a few minutes of silence, Maggie grabbed Dick's hand. He immediately tensed up but relaxed after a few seconds. Maggie was glad that Dick allowed some intimacy and smiled to herself. A moment after that, Dick's thump started to draw small circles on the back of Maggie's hand.

Maggie just felt how exhausted she was and slowly fell asleep. Her head landed (again) on Dick's shoulder and he couldn't help but smile for the second time since she had arrived. He enjoyed Maggie's proximity and thanked god for the gift that Maggie was for him. He knew that she had just made a joke when she called herself his wife-to-be, but he had to admit that he really liked the idea. And after what she had just done for him, he could start to believe that she returned his feelings…

Lew had done what he had to do at HQs and went back to where he had left Dick and Maggie earlier. When he came closer, he saw two shadows, one leant against the other and it seemed those shadows where holding hands. Lew smiled to himself and turned on his heel. He was really glad for his best friend that he had Maggie's support (and her love, by the way, but he was sure that Dick still didn't believe it).


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys, today I present you a very short chapter, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and working! **

**And I have to say "thank you" to all my loyal followers and reviewers. You are awesome! I really appreciate your support; so please continue ;) **

The next day all by now emerged Easy-Co members sat outside and tried to enjoy the sun. They all knew that it wouldn't take long until they were on the road again. Maggie lay next to Bill, her head located in his lap so that he could stroke her hair.

Suddenly the boys became noisy and Maggie sat up to see what got them into action. When she stood up, she could see Floyd Talbert and Albert Blithe approach. Maggie was glad to see Tab again; they always had enjoyed each others company during their time at Camp Toccoa. Maggie didn't know Blithe too well but she was sure that he was a nice guy as well. As far as she knew he was very quite and shy.

The reappearance of two Easy members gave Maggie new hope for other comrades who were still missing.

Shortly after everybody had said "hello" to the newcomers, Harry joined them and announced their new mission. Because Lt. Meehan was still missing, Dick was still their CO and Harry was in charge of first platoon.

They were to take Carentan so that the Seaborne could get from the landing zones into the back country. Because it was nearly dusk, Harry told them to hold light- and noise discipline. Luz got his own instruction:

"And no playing grab-fanny with the man – or woman – in front of you, Luz."

That – of course – provoked one of Luz' imitations of the higher ups: "Remember boys, give me three day-ys and three ni-ights of hard fighting and you will be relieved."

Sometimes Maggie thought that Luz was just a big child but she was very glad he was a member of her company. He always knew how to cheer the men up and always had a joke on hand; even if they were a little indecent most of the time… As if to prove that point he added:

"Another thing to remember boys: Flies spread diseases, so keep yours closed…"

Maggie had to smile to herself. Luz didn't know how right he was with "his instruction". During their time in Aldbourne many boys had made the acquaintance of some young women and apparently had forgotten to contracept properly so that there were many cases of STDs. Maggie knew this from the widow she had lived with. She worked as a nurse and regularly helped out at the local aid station.

On their way to Carentan they lost Fox-company; two times! Maggie couldn't believe that they were so stupid. Orders were to stay in contact with the sister companies, but apparently the men of Fox had better to do.

While they waited for the second time, Dick and Lew approached Maggie and asked what was going on.

"We're Fox-hunting again…" Maggie told them.

Dick and Lew smiled at each other but Dick's smile quickly faded. Maggie could see clearly that he was worried.

"I don't understand how something like this can happen…"

"This is about officers forgetting about their training, Lew. C'mon, let's see if the boys have found them. I'll see you later, Mag." And with a small smile he was gone.

Maggie talked to Bill while they waited. After she had yawned for the third time, Bill pulled her against his broad chest, so that Maggie could rest awhile.

When Lew and Dick came back, Dick saw Maggie cuddled against Guarnere and against his volition he got jealous. He tried to make an indifferent face but his best friend had already seen the jealousy cross his face.

"Dick, they're just friends. Believe me; Maggie loves you and only you!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I have eyes in my head?! Everybody can see the affectionate looks she gives you. And then there's that special smile that seems to be reserved only for you…"

"Lew, have you gone crazy?! A special smile for me… Maggie always has a beautiful smile."

"Yes, she does. But it's even more beautiful and a little brighter when it's directed at you. If you don't believe me, you should just observe her better."

"If you say so…"

"Of course, after all I'm the intelligence officer!"

Lew just received a small smile before Dick went away. He shook his head; he couldn't believe that his normally so smart best friend was so stupid and clumsy when it came to women, especially that certain one…


End file.
